This Is What You Turned Me Into
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "Dad did this to you. You needed to be something, to have a little hope, and if killing would do it-" She aimed a kick at her sister's stomach.


**A/N: Just thinking this morning. This is the spawn of it.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own.**

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><p><strong><span>This Is What You Turned Me Into<span>**

"Can't you see-" was her hiss as she landed a kick on her sister's shoulder, tipping her to the left. "-what you turned me into?" Artemis's blue eyes burned with tears, anger flowing through her veins like rivers of adrenaline. She managed to pick up her empty emerald quiver and slam it into the side of her sister's head.

"I never did this," Jade snarled right back, mask on the floor, useless now that the pouring rain and ruined everything within it. She snapped back up from both blows with astonishing speed and charged at her baby sister, throwing the archer to the ground and standing over her with furious glints in her dark brown eyes. "Dad did this to you. You needed to be something, to have a little hope, and if killing would do it-" She aimed a kick at her sister's stomach.

The blonde rolled out of the way and did a less-than-graceful backflips as an escape maneuver. "It only happened because you left, Jade! You weren't there to protect me!" Artemis charged only to watch her sister sidestep it and let the blonde slip past and nearly tumble face first into the ground. Artemis was upright again in a few seconds, but not before Jade had gotten a hold on the back of her shirt and thrown her back to the ground. The blonde was crumpled on the ground for a few moments, trying to push herself up off the ground. "You weren't there for me…" Her voice was weak and tired. She sounded almost like she was sobbing. "…when I needed you!" It was a lightning fast move when Artemis swiped a foot beneath her sister's legs.

Jade went down like a rock, but it was only a quick backflip and she was standing up again, eye-to-eye with her sister who looked hungry for blood. She raised her fists, knowing she needed to use the hand-to-hand combat skills she'd picked up to get anywhere in this fight. Yet again, Artemis was all upper body strength. A shadow of doubt crossed her mind. "You should've taken care of yourself, Artemis." She saw that the girl flinched at her name. Jade could understand why; sometimes she sounded like their mother, a haunting memory of the past she'd left behind. "You would've died had you not obeyed, and you would've died if you'd come with me." She watched her sister's hand flash out in a punch that Jade deflected with her forearm. "You lost the war either way."

"You ruined my life." Artemis dodged her sister's next chop. It clipped her shoulder, nothing more. "You left me for dead." Rage bubbled beneath her skin like boiling water ready to explode. She threw another punch out which was chopped away without a second thought. "What ever happened to family, Jade?"

"Our family fell apart." It was her turn to lash out with a foot and kick her baby sister in the stomach, knocking Artemis back a good yard. The assassin looked at the archer who remained bent at the waist, fighting to breathe and fighting the pain. "You could never see it. You would never give into it."

"Because there was always still a chance, Jade!" Tears stung her eyes. Not from any physical pain. But from seeing her worthless, murderous sister decide that she didn't care anymore about what happened to the little girl she had left behind so many years ago. Was it ironic that one took after her father while another took after her mother? How the mother had always been grounded, as had the opposing daughter? In that apartment, all those years ago, the man who would destroy her morally, emotionally, physically, and mentally, had left Artemis behind. She was just lucky her mother got out of prison on parole to catch her youngest before she fell too far. "Mom's back now. You can come home. We can be a family again, please, just listen to me!" Artemis looked up at her sister, desperation glowing in her hopeless, helpless eyes. "Please, I don't want to lose you again."

It was a quick punch that connected with her sister's cheekbone, knocking Artemis back another few feet. "You don't understand, _sis_. I'm not coming back." Another punch. Artemis groaned in pain. Jade felt victory flush her face as rage boiled in her brown eyes. "You wasted your time coming out here. And now you're wasting my time." She pulled her foot up and kicked the younger Crock, hitting her in the stomach again. "I have a job to do."

Artemis fell back a few feet before looking up with a blackish blue bruise swelling beneath her eye. She knew she'd have more bruises than just that by the end of the day. How she'd explain that to her mother, she had no idea. The archer would never admit that she still went after her sister after all these years. After the sister who'd left her. After the sister who'd abandoned her. The stupidity of her actions hit her like an arrow to the heart. She'd gone after someone who'd left her. Why even bother? The girl felt a snarl rising on her lips and it took a few seconds for her to let it all overflow and pour out of her. Her body surged up and she landed a nice punch on her sister's jaw. "I wasted all my time _missing you_."

A cat-like hiss came from the assassin and she bent backwards a bit only to straighten up and receive a knee to the stomach. She doubled over and took a kick to the side of her head with the inside of her sister's foot. Cheshire, Jade, went down hard, face in the concrete. She felt sticky blood welling out of fresh scrapes and a hard throbbing start slamming into her head like warriors beating on canvassed drums. She felt feet move close and glanced up to see a lithe body standing over her, a shadow cast on the rain-soaked ground. She looked up into the cloudy sky to see a dark form lingering over her like a ghost. "Artemis." She used her voice, so similar to her mother's, as her biggest weapon. The dark-haired assassin saw the form over her stiffen and made a swift move to grab for the archer's legs.

Arms wrapped around her legs, but she bashed the butt of her quiver into the side of her sister's head, watching the water splash off her ebony hair and off the weapon. Artemis growled at the now unconscious body. "If that's how much family means to you-" The blonde pulled her quiver back over her shoulder and picked up her broken bow, fingering the mangled string. "-I'll keep it in mind for next time." She began to pad through the rain back to the nearest zeta-beam teleporter. She had to get home somehow. "Mercy won't be your friend, Jade."

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><p><strong>AN: So, review?**

**~Sky**


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